Jerome Corsi, author of the book, The Obama Nation, falsely claimed on Hannity's America that Sen. Barack Obama said, "Even if a child was born ... the woman still had the right to kill the child in an abortion." Corsi similarly falsely asserted on Hannity & Colmes that "[a]fter a child's born, Obama ... in the [Illinois] state Senate, wanted the child killed if the mother desired an abortion," and on Sean Hannity's radio program, said that "Obama's on record as let's kill the baby if that's what the mother wants." In fact, Obama has never supported giving people the right to kill their children.

On the August 1 edition of Fox News' Hannity's America, Jerome Corsi -- author of the book, The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality (Threshold Editions) -- falsely claimed of Sen. Barack Obama's time in the Illinois state legislature: "Even if a child was born, he said the woman still had the right to kill the child in an abortion." Similarly, during the July 31 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Corsi falsely claimed that "[a]fter a child's born, Obama ... in the [Illinois] state Senate, wanted the child killed if the mother desired an abortion." And on the July 31 edition of ABC Radio Network's The Sean Hannity Show, Corsi claimed that Obama "support[ed] even late term, induced abortions where the baby lives. Obama's on record as let's kill the baby if that's what the mother wants." In making the false assertion about Obama's position -- Obama has of course never supported giving people the right to kill their children -- Corsi was also misrepresenting the legislation to which he was referring, a bill amending the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975. Opponents of the bill said the legislation was unnecessary as the Illinois criminal code unequivocally prohibits killing children, and said that it posed a threat to abortion rights.

Media Matters for America previously documented that the first reported allegation in Corsi's Obama attack book -- that he never revealed if or when he stopped using drugs -- is false. Obama wrote in his autobiography, Dreams from My Father (Crown, 1995), that he "stopped getting high" shortly after moving to New York City to attend Columbia University. Media Mattersnoted that in The Obama Nation, Corsi, who co-wroteUnfit for Command,the smear and falsehood-laden anti-John Kerry attack book, wrote that Obama's Global Poverty Act of 2007 "would commit the U.S. to spending 0.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product on foreign aid," and basely describes Obama's views on nuclear weapons as an "antiwar, antimilitary posture that places him even further left than Senator George McGovern."

From the August 1 edition of Fox News' Hannity's America:

HANNITY: You go through every position that he has --

CORSI: Yes.

HANNITY: -- as on the fringe of the left wing --

CORSI: Even --

HANNITY: -- on the fringe of the Democratic Party.

CORSI: Exactly, even extensively looking back at his record when he was in the state legislature in Illinois. His completely pro-abortion position, his --

HANNITY: Even if a child was born.

CORSI: Even if a child was born, he said the woman still had the right to kill the child in an abortion.

HANNITY: Unbelievable.

From the July 31 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

HANNITY: You -- you go into Obama's far-left domestic policies --

CORSI: Yes.

HANNITY: -- income redistribution, his Global Poverty Act.

CORSI: His support of abortion --

HANNITY: Abortion.

CORSI: -- even late term.

HANNITY: After a child was born --

CORSI: After a child's born, Obama --

HANNITY: -- in Chicago.

CORSI: -- in the state Senate, wanted the child killed if the mother desired an abortion.

HANNITY: But you talk about how this campaign is being run. The American people -- you call it the cult of personality.

CORSI: Cult of personality.

From the July 31 edition of ABC Radio Network's The Sean Hannity Show:

HANNITY: So there's a media fascination, but there has been this steadfast commitment never to ask him the tough questions about his radical associations, his views, his positions, which are quite radical -- a trillion dollars in new spending, massive redistribution of wealth, et cetera. Why do you think he's getting away with this?

CORSI: I think because of this cult of personality and the attempt to say all these issues are off the table. As I point out in the book, presidential campaigns are about issues, and Obama's past is a character issue. And it shows that the leftist training and background that he had -- going back to Malcolm X and all the other associations that readings, studying that Obama tells us was formative -- this is what produces his radical anti-abortion position -- his radical pro-abortion position, anti-life, you know, supporting even late-term, induced abortions where the baby lives. Obama's on record as let's kill the baby if that's what the mother wants. Anti-Second Amendment, pro-taxes, leftist military -- anti-military policy, where Obama has been steadfastly anti-war.

ABOUT OUR RESEARCH

Our research section features in-depth media analysis, original reports illustrating skewed or inadequate coverage of important issues, thorough debunking of conservative falsehoods that find their way into coverage and other special projects from Media Matters' research department.

MattGertz
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Matt Gertz is Research Director at Media Matters. He has written extensively on media coverage of the Benghazi attacks, gun violence, voting rights, LGBT issues, and elections, as well as on media ethics. He joined Media Matters in 2007 and holds a B.A. in political science from Columbia University.

Right-wing media outlets are parroting the attacks of an anti-LGBTQ hate group on Connecticut’s openly gay comptroller, Kevin Lembo. Lembo recently sent the American Family Association (AFA) a letter asking the group to submit written documentation certifying it complies with the nondiscrimination regulations governing the Connecticut State Employee Campaign for Charitable Giving (CSEC), which allows Connecticut State employees to contribute to qualifying non-profit charities through payroll deductions. Lembo’s office has since been “flooded” with emails and phone calls from AFA supporters.